Improvement in wagon-brakes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LESTER B. WELCH, OF MOUNT VERNON, COLORADO TERRITORY.

IMPROVEMENT IN WAGON-BRAKES.

Specitication forming` part of Letters Patent No. 175,799, dated April4, 1876; application filed July 9, 1875.

To all whom it may concer-n Be it known that I, LESTER B. WELCH, ofMount Vernon, in the county of J eft'erson and Territory of Colorado,have invented a new and Improved Wagon-Brake; and I do hereby decla-rethe following to be a full and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a side view ot' a wagon-boxsupplied with my invention. Fig. 2 is also a side view, showing,l theother side ot' the wagonbox. Fig. 3 is the hand-levertbr applying thebrake to the rear wheels ot' a wagon, showingl that the whole device canbe reversed and adjusted to either side of the wagon.

Similar letters` of reference in the accompanying drawings denote thesame parts.

This invention relates to a wagon-brake employing` two cross-bars ordouble-acting levers whereby a brake-slice is pressed against the frontand rear ot' each wheel on the same axle in place of the singlecross-bar and brakeshoes that press only on the front of the wheels; andhas for its object to provide a more ei'ectual wagonbrake thaf. hasbet'ore been used, which shall be simple in construetion, sure andeicient in operation, and that will stop instantly both wheels fromturning when the wagon is going down the steepest hill.

To these ends the inventiolr consists in the peculiar construction ofthe devicev as I will now proceed to describe.

I n the drawings,A represents a wagon-box and B the front cross-barlowered from the wagon-box so that the brake-shoes b b will press thewheels below the center, thereby having the greater pressure on thewheels. The double joint o o allows the forward and backward movement ofthe front bar B, at the same time holding it firmly in its properplacebelow the wagon-box. D is the rear crossbar in position against thebottom of the wagon-box, so that the brake-shoes d d will press theWheels above the center, thereby having the greater power on the wheels.E is the double-acting lever, as shown in Fig. 1. F is the double-actinglever, as shown in Fig. 2. G is the connecting rod under the wagon, ateach end ot' which is fastened the doubleacting levers E and F. H is thehand-lever by which the power is applied. The crossbars B and D areconnected with the doubleacting levers E and F by rods a a. and c c. Thehand-lever is connected by rod e, as shown in Fig. 1. The cross barsBandD andthe connecting-rod G can be held in proper position by anyconvenient device, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

To applyr the brake the hand-lever H must be pressed forward, which willdraw the rear cross-bar D forward and the front cross-bar B backward.The brake-shoes b b will then press the wheels in front and below thecenter, while the brake-shoes d d will press the` wheels at the rear andabove the center. By this arrangement a very small power at thehand-lever. will stop both wheels from turning, however heavy the loador steep the hill may be. The whole arrangement of parts is simple andthe operation is certain and effective.

`l claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Theconnecting-rod G, double-acting levers E and F, and connecting-rods a aand c c, in combination with the cross-bars B and D, substantially asdescribed.

LESTER B. WELCH. Witnesses:

CONSTANT DUHEM, JAY A. MERRILL.

